Mini Vay Cay!!!

We are very excited to leave this afternoon to go and stay with our friends Brad and Annie Mills. The only bummer is we have to go to Las Vegas to see them. There are some fun things about Vegas but there are also some sad and not so fun things. We have both been there before and just aren’t the biggest fans of good ol’ Vegas. Only because we love our friends are we dragging ourselves through the desert and 100+ degrees to be with them.  Just kidding it really isn't that bad, we are going to have a blast.

Hopefully we will remember to take some photos and if you're lucky, we might just post about our time.

In other news….

Today we have received our confirmed flight reservation for when we move to Uganda. That is cuh-ray-zeee!! Things are coming together and we march forward toward our departure date sometime at the end of January 2012. I know.  Crazy right?! Yahweh continues to provide instances to remind us that he is in control and his will is being worked out- we are so grateful for his reminders.

Preaching at RMCC

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to preach at our church. I preached out of Mark 2:13-17, continuing our church’s series through the Gospel of Mark. It was a blessing, honor, and a lot of fun. I now get the opportunity of look back on that time and evaluate it. There were plenty of mistakes and things I wished I would have said, or said differently, but God is gracious and used me in spite of me. As I have been thinking about this morning, one thing keeps coming up: God’s church is a really sweet place. Sarah and I are so blessed by God’s church, no matter where we go. I love to work in one, I love to be a part of the group of people, I love to watch God work in people, I love watching people wrestle through faith in God. The church is an incredible thing, even miraculous, that God built on this earth for the time between the 1st and 2nd coming. What an ingenious idea. Their is tremendous value in not simply attending a church, but really being a part of the life of it. That is really where God is moving on this earth. Yes, his work happens all over the world (both in and out of the church), but the church is where he really is working to bring transformation from sin into righteousness, death into life. Sarah and I are privileged to be a part of that work, and I was blessed to have been able to speak about the verses for that week. The response has been overwhelmingly kind and gracious from our congregation, which has also been a sweet thing for Sarah and I. The video and notes are online here if you wanted to have a listen.

We also just finished putting together a video from our recent Uganda trip. You can see that here.

Psalm 103:2-5.
"Bless Yahweh, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy
who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

Day trip to Tucson

            Last Friday we got to take a day trip down to Tucson. Our good friend, Brad Mills, plays AAA baseball for the Las Vegas 51’s and was the starting pitcher against the Tucson Padres. His beautiful, sweet, and hilarious wife, Annie, is our friend too and we got to hang out with her a bit at the game.  Because we are spoiled and we do not work on Fridays we decided to make a day of it and head down to Tucson in the morning. 

            After starting the day right by reading our Bibles getting some Sonic breakfast burritos, we were on our way. Our first stop was at an ostrich farm.

We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. For 5$ they give you a large cup of alfalfa pellets and a small cup of nectar to feel all of the animals they have. The had deer, goats, miniature donkeys, lorikeets, and of course, ostrich.  We started with the deer; they were the most calm and evoked the least amount of fear.

 This is me feeding my favorite.

Then we moved on to the goats. To make it interesting, they cut holes in a wall and made the beasts poke their heads through to get food. To add to it, these goats seemed like they had been hyped up on some steroids! I am not sure who thought of this idea but it was an outlandish experience, lets just say they did not get many of my pellets.

            

 Next we met the most bizarre creatures and the ones that steal the show, our acquaintance, the ostrich:

 

The entire time we spent looking at these massive birds I kept wondering “What was God thinking?” They are huge creatures that, from our experience, are not very bright.

        Next came the miniature donkeys, they really are very sullen creatures…

Now isn’t that one of the nicest looking assess you have ever seen?

With all of our pellets gone, the last animals to visit were the rainbow Lorikeets.  I did not know what to expect but the moment I walked into the exhibit those things were all over me; on my head, shoulders and arms.  I had the cup of nectar in my hand and it felt like they just swarmed at me. Letting out shrills of terror and trying to shake them off did nothing to startle these little things. Kyle was lovingly trying to encourage me by laughing at me. We did not stay long in there and when I found out I had gotten pooped on, I was really glad I brought a change of clothes…

After hand washing and sanitizing gel we got back into our trusty wagon and made the rest of the journey to Tucson. We stopped at the San Xavier Mission and wished we knew more about Catholicism. The building was built in the late 1700’s and had so much detailed artwork it was all beautiful.

We spent the rest of the day driving around town, looking at the University of Arizona, spending time at a park and going out to dinner before we headed to the ballpark.

I only got one photo of at the game that night and Brad isn’t even in it. 

There were about 40 family members and friends that came to watch Brad pitch; needless to say he had a huge cheering section. The 51’s won the game and Brad pitched great. Kyle and I had to work hard to keep each other awake as we drove back home that night. We had a great day, it is really nice that we enjoy one another's company so much. 

We are still here....

I know I am behind in posting and I have a few gems swirling around in this head of mine that I know I need to post…. but for today…. I will post for all of you that check this blog …actually I know my grandma is the only one who checks this thing regularly. I know that cause she told me! Hi Gram! I love you!

I really have wanted to share a post from another blog - something you all should listen too. I have a wonderful co-worker named Wendy, she lives and works in SoCal and visits our office from time to time for work related things. She has a beautiful family and is great at what she does for Food for the Hungry. One of the things she does is run a blog called PovertyUnlocked which you should check out. Recently she posted this, an audio episode where she talks about what Food for the Hungry does in our child sponsorship program and how real transformation takes place in impoverished situations. I think she does a great job of addressing issues that most of us wrestle with when we want to help “the poor.”

Please listen to this, it is legit. I don’t want you to listen to this so that you start sponsoring a child, rather I want us to think rightly about helping “the poor.” I keep putting “the poor” in quotes because really we are all poor is some way, poor is not just physical but that is what we so often think.

In a season when there are bazillion missions trips taking place around us and in the Christian culture that most of us are a part of, we must think rightly about poverty. A few months ago I told you to read the book When Helping Hurts because it is also legit; it talks about this same topic.

If you haven’t yet clicked on the links above to listen, here is your last chance:

http://povertyunlocked.com/2011/06/01/surprisingsolution/

You can listen to it while you are doing laundry or making dinner or checking  facebook or fixing the car or picking your nose or if you are able to multi-task, at work, or where ever. You can even tell me your thoughts about it, I have told you mine :)